The future of Python immutability

[Hendrik van Rooyen]

On Monday 07 September 2009 20:26:02 John Nagle wrote:

>     Right.  Tracking mutablity and ownership all the way down without
> making the language either restrictive or slow is tough.
>
>     In multi-thread programs, though, somebody has to be clear on who owns
> what.  I'm trying to figure out a way for the language, rather than the
> programmer, to do that job.  It's a major source of trouble in threaded
> programs.

I think that trying to make the language instead of the programmer responsible 
for this is a ball-buster.  It is unlikely to be either easy or cheap.  
I would rather have the programmer responsible for the mental model, and give 
her the tools to do the job with.

In any case - if you do not actually like juggling with knives, then you 
should not be mucking around with concurrency, and by making the language 
safe, you are taking the fun out.

- Hendrik